The Afterlife
by affairoftheheart
Summary: Eriko writes her memoirs from beyond the grave. An assignment I did for English. Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto.


This was an assignment for English. I liked it... I hope you do, too.

Disclaimer:Don't own it!!!

I don't know why I have to do this. I guess it's supposed to help transition into the afterlife or something like that. All I know is that the moment I got here, I was ambushed by this real ancient-looking guy. He told me that I had to sit down and write my memoir. He said that it was going to go into some kind of archive or something. But I think it's so that we can look back on our life and not be so bitter about dying.

That's right. I'm dead.

My name is Eriko Tanabe, but I was born Yuji Tanabe. When I was a young child, my parents died. I was taken in by another family, and they raised me to be a respectable young man. Too bad I eloped with their daughter. I really loved her. She was sort of odd-looking, but I guess that's what I liked about her. She was different.

Shortly after we were married, we had Yuichi. He was the most beautiful child I'd ever seen. We were a happy little family for a few short years. Then my wife got sick. The diagnosis was cancer, but we never told her. I think she knew anyway. I'd go and sit with her every day before and after work, while Yuichi spent time with a neighbor. I knew he wanted to see his mother, but he was too young to understand that she was eventually going to die.

One day, my wife asked me to bring her a plant, so there would be something living in her hospital room. I rushed to the nearest flower shop and bought a pineapple plant. It was an odd plant, but it wouldn't require too much maintenance to keep it alive. I think it really made her happy for a while. But then one day she told me to take it home. It was then that I realized that she knew she was going to die. I promised to take it home and take care of it. Thus began my love affair with plants. My wife died three days later.

I was lost without her. I couldn't concentrate at work, so I quit my job. I had plenty of money saved up, but what would I do with it? _Become a woman_, I thought. I had felt for years that I wasn't meant to be a man, but because I was married, it wasn't decent in my mind to become a woman at that point. But now it was. A young boy needed a mother much more than he needed a father, I decided. So I moved us to a place where no one knew us, had the operation, and changed my name to Eriko. After all, once I get an idea in my head, I just have to do it, you know?

My relationship with my son wasn't strained as I'd expected it to be, but I suppose it's because Yuichi was too young to really understand what was going on. I raised him as if I were a real woman. He learned early on to be respectful to women. He called me "Mom". But we never really had a parent/child relationship. We were always more like friends.

I remember when I first met the old woman. Yuichi had just started working at the flower shop. I guess I had passed on my love for plants. He'd forgotten his lunch, so I brought it to him. When I arrived, he was helping her. He introduced her as Mrs. Sakurai, and she was the flower shop's most loyal customer. He told me later that day that she lived alone with her granddaughter, Mikage, who was an orphan, and the same age as Yuichi.

Then she died. Yuichi was devastated. I remember him shyly asking me if he could attend the funeral, as if I would say no. While he was there, I couldn't help thinking about the girl. She was only in the university, she couldn't survive alone for long. So I told Yuichi to tell her to come stay with us.

The day she arrived, I had to work. Shortly after my operation, I bought a gay nightclub, so, as the owner, I had a lot to do. I was able to stop by the apartment for a few minutes to meet her, though. I almost laughed. Yuichi once told me that she reminded him of our old dog, Woofie, and now that I saw her, I completely agreed. But she really wasn't bad-looking. But you could tell she was grieving. She had a distant look in her eyes.

Mikage stayed with us for six months. She was so good to us. And she was an amazing cook. The morning after she arrived was the first time I spent alone with her. She cooked me breakfast: cucumber salad and soupy rice with eggs. I knew then and there that she was meant to be a chef.

I watched Yuichi and Mikage grow closer in those six months. I knew that Yuichi had a girlfriend, but I can't quite remember her name. But I think that those two really loved each other, however deep inside themselves.

After six months, Mikage needed to move on. She'd found herself her own apartment and a job as an assistant at a cooking school. That girl was going to go places in this world. Before she left, I made her promise that she'd come back to visit. She never had a chance to, though.

The last time I saw Mikage was at the all night minimart. It was the middle of the night, and a couple of girls from the bar and I were standing there drinking coffee. All of a sudden, I looked up, and there was Mikage, standing in front of me, holding the pudding cup she just bought. We talked for a few minutes, and then went in our separate directions. Neither of us figured it would be the last time we saw each other.

The guy had been stalking me for a while. I guess he saw me and wanted me, but when he found out I was really a man, he got mad. He started writing a lot of crazy letters. Then one night, he decided to confront me. He came to the bar, screaming about how he was being made a fool of. Then he pulled out a knife and stabbed me. One would think that I'd just curl up in a ball and die in pain, but no. I grabbed a barbell off the bar (it was part of the club's décor, okay?) and bludgeoned him to death. If I recall correctly, my final words were, "There! Self-defense, that makes us even." And I died.

That's how I ended up here. You might think that it was crazy and chaotic. But to me, it was just life. What can I say?


End file.
